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Volume of cybercrime soared four times in 2020, says Sberbank CEO

He stressed that when choosing a bank, a person should take into account, in particular the degree of cyber security of this credit institution
Head of Sberbank Herman Gref  Alexandr Sherbak/TASS
Head of Sberbank Herman Gref
© Alexandr Sherbak/TASS

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. The volume of cybercrime soared four times in 2020, head of Sberbank Herman Gref said in an interview with TASS. He added that so far law enforcement agencies are not able to stop the rapid growth of such crimes.

"The crooks use the latest technical means. Before covid, the volume of cybercrime approximately doubled annually. In 2020, it has increased fourfold. Are our special services and law enforcement agencies able to resist it? Obviously not," he said.

The head of Sberbank noted that it is not only elderly people who become victims of cyber criminals, sometimes such attackers manage to swindle hundreds of millions of rubles out of a person.

"Two weeks ago, they stole several hundred million rubles from a top manager, a client of one of the banks. And I can tell you about a dozen of such stories. You will be very surprised if you find out what kind of people they cheated out of their money and how they did it," Gref told TASS.

He stressed that when choosing a bank, a person should take into account, in particular the degree of cyber security of this credit institution.

"I always tell my friends: choose a bank not only from the point of view of financial reliability, but also cyber security. Banks where they invest a lot in the cyber defense system, and you will be protected," head of Sberbank said.

Gref also noted that the criminals act much faster than the special services, and this is a worldwide problem. "The state mechanism is too clumsy. It's not only about Russia - many countries are in a similar situation. We are gradually realizing how serious the problem is," he said.